Returning Dreams
by Silent Magi
Summary: Dreams are strange, and sometimes they can seem far more real than reality. So you have to ask sometimes, which is reality and which is the dream?
1. Chapter 1

Hello and welcome back friends, I'm so glad that we've made it through another year together. Some of you might recognize this as a reboot of Dreaming of Konoha. I felt that too much time had passed from when I initially wrote it to pick up from where I had left it. I thank you for coming back, and hope that you enjoy the Returning Dreams.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he held up his favorite teacher and mentor, holding him as they made their way to the hospital to get him patched up after the battle with Mizuki. He'd beaten him into submission with his little army of clones, and Iruka had made him an official Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. It was the first step on his path to become the Hokage, and he would surpass even the Fourth.

Closing his eyes, he let out a groan as the sunlight began to get rather annoying. Wait, sunlight? Hadn't it just been evening? Opening his eyes slowly, he let out a groan as he realized that he'd been having one of those dreams again. The muted grey of his dorm room was somewhat comforting, but he couldn't help but feel it was a bit of a letdown. He was back in the boring, regular humdrum world. It was like the dreams were haunting him with a fantastic world just out of his reach when he was stuck in this one.

Certainly he had a better life growing up at the Konoha Academy after the car crash which left scars on his cheeks than his dreamself had. He might not have been a popular student, but he wasn't completely isolated and surrounded by those that hated him. Letting out a disgruntled groan, he reached over onto his bedside table and picked up the pen there to scribble down notes about the dream. If nothing else, he might take some extra art courses and make it into some sort of comic book. The story would likely be popular, wouldn't it?

He couldn't help but laugh as he dragged himself out of bed, realizing that once again getting eight full hours of sleep was a dream even more ludicrous than the ones about being some sort of super powered magical boy with super powered springs in his heels bounding around like a rubber super ball on speed or something. The dreams had been a constant companion for as long as he could remember, granting him a second life that for all intents and purposes… sucked balls.

Setting the pen back on the dream journal, he mused about the story told within its pages and those of all the twins he had stored in his closet. It spoke of a child that longed for attention and affection, but was denied that at most turns. So it seemed almost logical that when Mizuki after a seemingly miraculous change of heart, the dream Naruto had leaped at the offer for a chance at his dream. But there was something about how dense he was in his dreams that just made him cringe. How could he have thought it was possible that Mizuki gave a shit about him? Let alone enough to try and get some sort of extra-credit exam.

Aside from the fact that he was stealing a top-secret scroll, which was called Forbidden in the title, and supposed to learn a jutsu off it, the dream Naruto had some amazing stealth. Even wearing a day-glow orange jumpsuit, he was able to escape and avoid several of the highest ranking ninja on the force, paint the monument in broad daylight, and even infiltrated the Hokage Tower to get the scroll in the first place.

His stealth was insane to be able to pull that off in that orange monstrosity. To be fair, it had been all he could afford that would last long enough to be worth the money, but it was an eye sore.

Closing his eyes as he fought off a shudder from the nightmare that was his dreamself's fashion sense, he made a mental note to avoid Mr. Mizuki for the couple days until his transfer to the state college's offseason wrestling coach was finalized. He was waiting on a few mail-order supplies for a prank on the teacher's housing district, but Mizuki should be moved in at his new place by then. Otherwise, it was just staying away from the Elementary gym classes when they are having sessions. As a freshman, he didn't go over that way at all, so that was no sweat either.

Rolling his back, he groaned as he wondered what to do with the rest of his early Saturday morning, as a glance at his clock revealed it wasn't even a quarter to six in the morning. Closing his eyes, he sighed as the sound of a gentle patter of rain falling against his windows filled the silence around him. No chance of going out to get some running in, perhaps he could swing over and check on his plants in the greenhouse. Maybe even get some solo training in on Gai's self-defense lessons. Or maybe he could show some team spirit and watch one of the sports teams practicing.

Yeah right, that Tenten girl he'd hung out with during Kakashi's detention would probably have a heart attack if he showed any interest in sports.

Letting out a yawn, he staggered over towards the bathroom, powering up his laptop on his way past. He'd kill a little bit of time before heading to the Greenhouse, since breakfast wouldn't be served for another while, and the good stuff about an hour after they get the juice bar and coffee running. A quick clean-up later, he opened his browser to see if there was anything going on tonight. Sometimes the drama club had a play or something on Saturdays, or there would be a tournament of one form or the other in the student lounge. But today, like so many others, Saturdays generally were fairly empty of events. A point lamented and celebrated by students and teachers alike. He could almost swear that at one time he'd done it in the same sentence.

Other than the lack of activities listed on the main school calendar, the only thing of note on the school's homepage was a story about last night's game. Before he could even read the headline, he had to smirk as he saw Tenten letting out a celebratory whoop while hugging someone in the manager's jersey. The shorter girl was curious, in that her eyes almost looked white in the picture, but he knew from seeing her in class that they were actually a very light shade of purple with small irises. She was a nice girl, but unlike Tenten she was very shy and reserved.

A quick scan of the article told him that Tenten had all but won the game on her own, and it almost made him wish he'd been able to see it. The detention he'd served last night with Iruka scrubbing toilets was worth being able to string up that bully by his tighty-whiteys for picking on those little kids. That he'd been able to get the jerkwad up the entire flagpole without his underwear ripping or a teacher stopping him had to be one of his crowning moments of vengeance; getting caught by Iruka walking around the corner just as he was about to flee, not so much.

When they swung by later on to thank him, and sneak him some pieces of candy had made it a pretty decent night. Iruka had looked away, but Naruto had caught the little smirk of pride and mischievous twinkle to his eye that stood out nicely against his scar. He hoped that the kid with the excessively long scarf and his friends, drippy nose and carrot top princess were having a good lie in this morning.

Maybe he should have asked their names last night.

Too late to do anything about that now, so instead he turned back to the computer screen and checked out what was trending in the student forums. Talking about the game, complaining about the amount of homework, wondering when the next trip into town was for those on the scholarship, and other topics were the usual fare here, and he probably should have looked into that one about the scholarship students going to town so he could avoid Kurenai and her shopping trip of death, but that was put on the backburner as he caught sight of a new topic.

To be honest, it was the creator of the sub-forum that had caught his attention. After all, it wasn't every day that Shikamaru Nara, the personification of laziness, posted on the school's boards, let alone make a section off to itself. It was after that sunk in and he saw the title that made him curious.

It was supposedly a group study focused on dreams, which made sense for the boy that slept through most classes, but the name he gave it was a bit strange.

 _Konoha's_

 _Student_

 _Health_

 _Investigation_

 _of_

 _Nocturnal_

 _Observations_

 _Based_

 _Imaginings_

One might have played it off as him wanting to make a play off of the school's team the Shinobis, but Naruto actually knew his sense of humor and this was not it. While Naruto might not have been the brightest student in his classes, a solid C average was very respectable thank you very much; even he could tell this was Shikamari's way of slipping in a subtle hint. Sure it was as subtle as if it had been constructed in fifty-foot tall letters doused in kerosene, set ablaze while fireworks went off in the sky as nude dancers did cartwheels in around it to a full symphonic orchestra playing the national anthem of ten different nations at once, but he wouldn't have been surprised if his dreamself would have missed it.

Then again, he has been perceptive a few times in those dreams.

Instead of debating the various degrees of density that would have been his counterpart's cranial protective shell, he clicked the link into the threads to see what it was about. On the surface, it looked to be a lot of guff about dreams, their meanings, and how to control them. Very true to Shikamaru's character, only the barest of effort had been made, with a boilerplate forum, plain graphics, and other contrent that could have been found in minutes of searching online. Already there was three members to the forum.

The first of course was Shikamaru, the second wasn't too much of a stretch of the imagination. If one were to talk about Shika for any length of time, his best friend Chouji would come up very swiftly. The guy was a pleasant fellow, unless you called him fat. He was sensitive about the condition that he suffered from, and would lash out people that teased him about it. Naruto had gotten some satisfaction drawing off Chouji's bullies with vengeance pranks. The truth of the matter though, was if Chouji were to really get pushed into a corner, the person would find out that under that glandular condition, Chouji was a solid wall of muscle.

While Naruto's pranks might have bruised their pride, they stung far less than anything Chouji might have done. Yet there was some good of the situation for the two of them. They had become borderline friends, and Naruto learned that the only larger than an Akimichi's appetite, was their generosity.

The final member however was the one that made him curious. Shino Aburame was well-known throughout the school as a silent and aloof student seemingly destined for his first love of entomology. His ever present shades and hooded sweatshirt had once given him a status as a rebellious youth among the students, but Naruto had learned the secret about them. While hiding from some teachers, he'd heard that his family had a history of sensitivity to light, in particular direct sunlight.

There was no proof that Naruto had anything to do with shades being closed in rooms that Shino happened to be heading into. Or two dipshits that thought it'd be funny to steal his shades and then laugh as he clutched his eyes in pain finding themselves waking up the next week to dorm rooms filled waist deep with earthworms. The staff couldn't prove that Naruto was the one that did it, but he had noticed a few of them had let him slide on a few things for the next couple weeks.

For the three of them to be joined in on a project as the founding three members was certainly something to pay attention to. Each of them had been a part of his dreams, classmates that he would hang around with between pranks or being screwed over by the entire village. Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and let the connections form in his mind, even if that was the only place they were. He'd noticed that aside from creating the forum, they hadn't posted anything in it. Opening his eyes again, he noticed one of the top threads was asking for dreams to discuss in them.

He thought about his dreams, and wondered if someone else's perspective on them wouldn't hurt. After all, he was getting nowhere fast with them, and the idea of talking to the school psychiatrist about them was… yeah the less time he spent in Dr. Kurenai Yuhi's care, the better. If it wasn't the shopping, it was slicing apart his mental state in ways that made him somewhat uncomfortable. He'll stick to the once a year mandatory visits thank you.

While he was thinking, he signed up for the board. It was just a couple clicks and he was subscribed to all the threads and able to post in any that weren't locked. With a shrug he pulled over his dream journal and took a long look at the final entry. Would it be alright to post this? Maybe make sure that it expresses he didn't think of the actual people like this? Yeah, that could work.

The typing up of the dream was a quick ten minute affair, which left him plenty of time for other things. Posting it on the forum, he decided he needed to be up and moving. His little glass enclosed garden was calling to him, and so he closed the laptop and made his way to the greenhouse.

The little glass sanctuary had been little more than just an empty area when he first started the gardening club, the glass walls and roof covered in a layer of dirt and grim from disuse of being abandoned. But he had set about cleaning and organizing everything to serve as a proper gardening area. Just as his first crop had been harvested, he had been asked to see the Board of Governors who wanted to close it down since it was supposedly a drain on the school's budget.

With Principal Sarutobi by his side, he had managed to show that as he was donating the produce to the school, and only asking for dirt and seed, how he had used rain gutters from around the school to fill a cistern to water the crops even during droughts, and various other things he had worked out with only the old man's help, that not only was it not draining money, but in the long run it would end up saving them hundreds. Then Sarutobi mentioned something about student moral being unable to be measured for just having fresh produce, but at the time he didn't understand that.

It was a week afterwards that he found someone standing just outside his greenhouse with a slip of paper asking to join. The blonde girl had turned out to be Ino Yamanaka, and despite having the same schedule as him seldom actually seemed to be in the greenhouse when he was. In the five or six years since the Gardening Club started, he had only seen her during the planning of crop rotations, club pictures, and doodles left on their message white board.

She favored the flowers, which went to decorating the school. Some were transplanted, while others pruned and placed into vases, both of which Ino took care of along with growing the new ones to replace them. All of which helped ensure that the Gardening Club, despite having half the minimum number of members was still a fully funded club. Maybe if they got some more members, they could expand the greenhouse.

But that would have to wait, as he noticed his ad for recruitment was torn down yet again, in its place was a sign-up for one of the winter sports teams. He shook his head at that, knowing it was pointless to fight it, he just made a note to put a new one up later and moved on. The greenhouse, his sanctuary awaited, and as he fished out the key for the door he considered how nice it was going to be surrounded by his plants as the rain pattered against the glass panels.

It was a great start to a lazy Saturday for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

This was the simple mantra that granted what was possibly one of the greatest careers of high school basketball seen. Tenten had long mastered the mantra, able to nail any shot presented to her. And her teammates would tell you that she wasn't just gifted with the unnatural aim, she spent extra hours in the gym training when the rest of the team had gone to their dorms. Well, all the rest save a single manager who helped with her training.

The ball that had been passed to her by said girl was dribbled a few times as she made her way to the next point, a randomly scattered piece of paper she used as points to shoot from. Her eyes focused on the spot ahead of her as she duck and wove through imaginary opponents. Her toe planted on the spot, and she repeated her mantra.

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

It was more than just perfect aim when it came to shooting for the basket, she could thread any needle to find an open player while she was drawing most of the attention from the opposing team. Her desire to be the best burned in her chest, and she had to prove to the coach that she wasn't some hotshot with a chip on her shoulder.

Two weeks ago had been the first time she'd let slip her temper, and explosion or anger and frustration that had ended with her in detention and some girl that had thought Hinata's lunch money belonged to her eating bricks. She hadn't even realized she was in motion until after the ball had been released from her hand and the natural mantra had played out in perfect fluidity.

Post, aim, flick, smack, move.

She had barely gotten Hinata clear of the area, when the teachers arrived and the bully had ratted her out. The blood covered ball didn't help her innocence, so she came clean. She explained she saw the bully picking on someone, she wouldn't tell them who, and she had acted. She had taken the blame, the full ire of the teaching staff, and they had just given her a detention.

The bully was still in their suspension, as it was their third and final strike. If they were caught doing anything out of line again, their time at Konoha would be at an end. It was during that detention that she had met someone that interested her.

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

Her body was running through the motions of the practice on automatic at this point, giving her mind leave to explore things she'd been thinking about for the past two weeks. OR rather, the person she'd been thinking about for those two weeks since her detention.

She couldn't even place why she'd been thinking about him, but those dreams she'd been having weren't helping either. In them she was a young woman who was fascinated by sharp, pointy, dangerous, lethal, ouchy, hurty, pain makers known as weapons who had been adopted by a shinobi weaponsmith, she was hoping to become a weaponsmith or salesperson herself after a few years as a kunoichi to raise money for the initial shop.

But there were these dreams from years back, before she had been adopted where she was in an orphanage with a bright ball of sunshine that seemed to be hated by all but her. The boy was named Naruto Uzuamaki, and she thought he was a brilliant prankster.

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

In this world, she had been blessed to have two wonderful fathers who worked with her on following her dreams with her full passion and energy. She had gotten a scholarship here at Konoha in middle school, with the only requirements being that she spend at least three years playing no other sport than basketball, maintain a b-average, and serve as a mentor for younger students when they enroll into the school.

That had actually been how she had met Hinata, the shy girl had joined the school just last year, and she'd been asked to show her around and help her get settled in. They had struck up a friendship, and she'd even managed to help the girl work around her father's requirement that she join a sports team by getting her a position as a manager on the basketball team.

It had been another shot in the dark that resulted in nothing but net for Tenten. Hinata seemed to have taken a shine to the position, and would still come to her for advice sometimes with things even if their time together had come to an end. But it was just like her mantra, she only had to:

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

That friendship had brought about the fateful meeting in detention with the school's resident prankster, Naruto Uzumaki. He'd been pulling some prank or other and didn't seem the least bit ashamed at being punished for it. In fact if it wasn't for Mr. Hatake reading his questionable adult literature at the front of the room, it almost could have passed as a pair of friends just hanging out.

The boy had somehow made it through his years at Konoha without having seen a single sporting event, and seemed almost proud of that fact. She hadn't known that he was a part of the gardening club, or that there was one to begin with. But she could see the passion in his eyes when he spoke about it; it was one she wore when in a game.

Post, aim, flick, swish, move.

He was funny, and entertaining, and those scars on his cheeks were kinda cute. She could see hanging out with him sometime, especially since his taste in clothing wasn't nearly as horrible as they were in the dreams. He had occupied her free time since the detention. Sometimes she'd worry that he wasn't' studying, others she would find herself thinking that he seemed a bit down and could use someone to talk to.

She just couldn't let herself be distracted, she had to focus on the season finals, and claim her next target. There was nothing that was of a higher priority to her at this moment. But her mind came back to him, and it made her realize that he wasn't the only one that was lonely at times. If it wasn't for Hinata, all she would have would be the game and her way of life.

Post. Aim. Flick. Swish. Move.

Maybe she should follow her instincts, and reach out to offer a hand in friendship to him. It wasn't like she spent all her time on the court, the coach made sure she took time off. It wouldn't do for her to be exhausted come game time, or be disqualified because her grades slipped.

She was wrapping up her morning practice with the shooting drills, and then it would be some cooldowns before getting breakfast. She wasn't tired yet, not after years of doing this type of practice, but she knew when she had to rest lest she get the speech from the coach again.

Post, aim, flick, silence, move.

Blinking, she looked over towards the net, wondering if she'd actually missed. When she saw Hinata watching her with a patient smile, and a clicker held up in the most telling of manner. She had done her hundred shots, and it was time to cool down. Perhaps it was time to solve this quandary with her usual method.

As she gave Hinata a sheepish smile and started her laps, she decided to break things out into a simple plan she could follow through.

Post: Find a point to plant as a firm stance and work towards the goal. In this case it was addressing that she wanted to learn more about him, and attempt to befriend him, but she was socially awkward and not that talented with dealing with emotions and such. With what she knew of him, he seemed like the type that would forgive her foibles in those regards, so it wasn't that big an issue in the immediate. And she would improve with time and practice, right?

Aim: Define the goal, befriend and come to understand Naruto was the starting goal. But what was the long term one? She would have to come back to that. Maybe just get him to show some public school spirit? That should be fun.

Flick: Make the first move, he hadn't sought her out. Even with her being as close to a celebrity as the school had aside from one Sasuke Uchiha, it wasn't entirely like she was constantly surrounded by fans.

Swish: Be Naruto's friend and have some fun with him. Simple enough, it is the goal reached.

Move: See where life takes her from there.

Now that she had a plan she could understand in mind, she just had to follow-through. Naruto didn't know it, but he now had a target on him, and Tenten never missed once her target was in sight.


	3. Chapter 3

The Greenhouse was located off the southern most hall of the school, where it got as much sun as possible. Inside the little sanctuary, the sound of the rain pattering against the glass panes Naruto found himself with a sense of peace and tranquility growing inside. Walking through the rows of plants, both in the ground itself in raised platforms; he smiled at the smell of earth and the plants. This was good, this was his hard work.

Ducking under one of the raisers, he walked back along the windows, pulling bits of leaves and twigs out of the water trough. One of the ingenious tricks he used to decrease expenses, when it rained most of the falling water would be guided into a cistern under the school, which he used during droughts, but there were several that funneled into the greenhouse, where it encircled the plants in life giving fluids which were then fed into the planters by small tubes, while the excess was added to a more readily available tank.

Tossing what little plant matter that had gotten in the troughs through the screens into one of the composting bins around the room; he checked the white board by the door to see if Ino had left him any messages. There wasn't anything out of the unusual, aside from a reminder that the kitchens were hoping for his harvest to be ready for the feast they were planning. Taking a look at them, he felt that it might be another two or three weeks before they were ripe enough to harvest. He'd have to see if the old man could spare some time to help out.

Sighing, he thought about what he'd have to do for next year. Somehow he had to get the artificial pollination unit replaced so that some of the plants would grow properly. That brought back the bitter memory of watching a careless forklift driver not only knock it off the shelf it had been safely tucked away on, but running it over. There hadn't been enough of it left to pull part numbers from.

The constant delays on the replacement was getting rather annoying, and if it wasn't for Principal Sarutobi's insistence that it was being worked on as swiftly as possible he would have gone with another company. He might just have to seek out alternatives. Perhaps he could hunt down and bug Shino and his Bug Clu- Entomology Enthusiasts Club to herd some of their insects into pollinating the plants for the next season.

Seeing a sticky note in a familiar penmanship, he almost let out a fond chuckle as he realized that Ino was being asked about refreshing the flowers at the entrance, which would mean that a few of them would be finding their way into the cafeteria. Looking over at the plots she had claimed as her own, he smiled at the explosion of color that contrasted his primarily green sea. While he was about the food-bearing plants, she loved flowers and all their intricate beauty.

In a sense they were both being of service to the school, something that few other clubs could lay claim to. Now, if he could just get some others to join up.

Shaking the thought from his mind, he set about checking the plots, making sure the soil was still healthy and moist. There was little to do actually, since this close to harvest the weeding was minimal, and he just had to keep an eye on the water troughs and plants that were nearer to being ripe.

Washing his hands off at the sink by the exit, he looked to see if it was almost time to go eat. Sure enough, it would be late enough that they would have the good stuff coming out just as he managed to get there. Pausing at the whiteboard, he left a note for Ino about his possible alternative for the pollination, and if it'd be alright to involve the club he had in mind. With the addition of his mailing address, he felt he'd done a fair morning's work.

A satisfied smile spread on his face as he locked the door and hoped that they had pancakes today.

It turned out that pancakes were not on the menu for today, but with the waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, orange juice, and a raisin bran muffin would suffice for today. It was nice that one of the groups was harvesting the forest around the school for maple sap to turn into syrup, since in his opinion it tasted better than the artificial stuff. Now if they could just get that animal farming group set up, they could have eggs and milk for all sorts of good things.

After raiding the breakfast buffet for his morning nutrition, he found a nice table by the windows where he could listen to the rain while eating his meal. About halfway through, something new happened that he had not expected. He was joined at the table by someone.

The simple fact that anyone joined him was a bit of a surprise, since most people went about their lives without noticing him unless he brought the attention on himself. The next part that surprised him was just who it was that had come to join him.

Shino Aburame was seldom the most social types, and when he was, it was always someone seeking him out rather than the other way. "There was much you left unsaid in your post this morning Naruto," he stated, getting directly to the point as was his nature. "Had it been anyone else, I would have been surprised at your restraint, but I know some of what you faced that was not told."

"Then you know why I didn't want to post it," he countered after swallowing the bite he'd been chewing on. "So how do you know so much about my dreams?"

"This is neither the time nor the place, but you may have surmised that there was more to the website than was originally posted as the intended purposes," Shino stated, giving Naruto a flash of his eye for a moment before the shades were back over them.

Naruto paused long enough to gulp down some juice before answering. "Yeah man, it's kinda obvious if you know anything about the founding three."

Shino gave him a soft, fond chuckle as he stole a piece of bacon off Naruto's plate and munched on it. The prankster let him have it while he joined in the laugh. "You may wish to read through some of the responses. There are details that may surprise you. However, I wish to extend an apology for my own participation in your troubles there. Both of us were isolated growing up, and should have noticed the trouble you were having."

"Thanks man, but it's not necessary. I kinda think if you had problems, you were dealing with them instead of looking out for someone else. I can understand that," Naruto offered, feeling a little awkward at being put on the spot like that. He wasn't used to people caring in either world, let alone enough to apologize for something.

Shino studied him for a moment longer than was perhaps necessary, an unnerving experience for most anyone else, but Naruto was used to people staring at him. True, it usually was after a prank or something, but the basics were still there. Finally he seemed to reach a decision and bowed his head. "As you wish it Naruto, however one must be held accountable for their inaction as much as their actions if it results in the suffering of another."

"Then I accept your apology, if you will accept my forgiveness," Naruto countered with a heartfelt smile, he was not the type to hold grudges; especially over something as silly as a dream. Well there were the bullies that never seemed to learn, but he had his pranks to deal with them.

Shino gave him a slight smile before bowing his head again and making to stand up. "I hope I should never incur your wrath Naruto, I would like to know more about you. However, I understa-"

"I'd like that," Naruto cut in with a bright smile. "How about we talk some more sometime? You have my chat handle if you prefer that, or just hunt me down sometime. I was even thinking of getting our clubs to work together…"

"A… union of our clubs?"

"Yeah, see my artificial pollinator got destroyed after last season, and the parts are on back order, so I was thinking we could let more than just the worms in the soil do their natural thing."

"I will consider this, but it would be a favorable situation, we would have to discuss the particular plants you grow and how to handle any arthropods that would be left behind," Shino agreed while reaching up to play with the pull string of his hoodie in thought.

"Still have to talk to Ino about it, but if she agrees, it would be awesome to get started after harvest!" Naruto gushed happily as a laugh escaped him. "Thanks for thinking about it man."

"In return, I will give you this to think about," Shino returned with a slight smile spreading on his face. "Pick one of the basics from the dreams, something that you could do second nature and attempt it. The results may surprise you."

"I think I will." Naruto paused as Shino rose from the table and made a bee-line for the buffet to presumably get his own plate of breakfast. And as he watched, he felt his mind process several thoughts in between bites of eggs.

Had Shino tired? Was this his way of cluing him in on something greater than just some weird dreams? What was with the way he phrased their clubs working together? Had that been a blush on his cheeks behind the sunglasses? Why was he pouring so much honey on his waffles?

His mind might have been a bit sharper than his dreamself, but it had its moments where it couldn't be kept straight long enough to focus on a single question. And as his mind continued to derail itself, he ate his food on automatic, hoping that Shino didn't mind if he finished first.


	4. Chapter 4

Having a plan in mind was all well and good, but actually implementing it? That took determination and perseverance, especially when you're basically a celebrity within the school and are wanting to go unnoticed. Tenten had found this to be one of the problems that came with being the star of the school's most successful sports team.

She had intended to go out right after showering from practice to talk with Naruto, but Hinata had caught her as she emerged and told her the coach wanted to see her. That was nearly an hour ago, and all she knew was that she was relegated to light practices until after the championships, unless something really screwed their chances at winning the state finals. Which would suck, but she had agreed repeatedly to try and make the meeting that much shorter.

Perhaps it might have helped if her leg hadn't been bouncing with impatience the entire time.

Hinata would apparently be reviewing the tapes of the other schools with her during the parts of practice she and a few of the others were going to be able to skip. Why is she being punished by getting her practice time cut?

But that was over with now, and it was time for her to go hunt down Naruto to talk with him. Blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face, she began her hunt. It might have been easy save for one tiny detail she forgot about in her initial planning.

She didn't know what he did outside of sitting in detention most weekdays.

Well that wasn't true, she knew that he did gardening for the school, and probably went to class and slept in his room, but that still left a lot of time open on his schedule that he could be anywhere on campus. And thus it was time for one of the worst things in her books: talking to strangers.

"Hey umm… You're in Naruto's class right?" she asked a pink haired girl she vaguely remembered seeing in the yearbook under his class year, at least she thought it was her. She was the only one with hair that… unique… shade of pink. She was pretty sure she was also in his year in the dreams, so it should be fine, right?

The grunt of disdain and eyeroll from the rosette told her the assumption there was so far off base it was likely in another galaxy fighting with swords made of pure energy or something. "Ugh what did he do now?" she asked with a huff as she pulled out an orange notebook that had a red pen clipped to it.

"Nothing, I was just looking for him!" Tenten tried to explain as the girl flipped to almost the final page. When her fingers stalled, Tenten took in her expression again and couldn't help but wonder at the confused look on the younger girl's face, a confusion that slipped into some strange mix of recognition and she almost thought deviousness? "Look, I talked to him a while back, and thought he was kinda cool… do you know where I could find him?"

"Oh… well if you are looking for him like that, I believe he's done at his little greenhouse for the day, but you might still be able to find him in there, goofing off instead of doing his homework, or maybe off playing a prank on someone. Sometimes he hangs out in the library, but that's only on days that Mr. Umino is there, but he has this weekend off, so that is unlikely," the pink-haired girl, that Tenten couldn't for the life of her remember the name of, ranted opening her notebook to the front cover where a schedule was written in. "I believe he normally eats a brunch after working in his greenhouse, and then retires to his room for a time. So you might be able to catch him in the lunchroom. Ino says that he likes to get his gardening done early before lazing about for the rest of the day, but I think that's because he has the better plots in the greenhouse and she's jealous."

Tenten watched as she continued giving a roundabout explanation of where Naruto might be, helpless under the overshare of information. When the girl paused for a breath, she tried to divert the next onslaught with a question. "Are you his friend?"

"Ugh, no… but he is someone that Sasuke has shown some interest in despite his obvious failings as a student, so I have started keeping track of him, but he is somewhat elusive," she grumped before turning back to her notebook. "Besides, as class president I should keep track of troublemakers like him, an-"

"Sakura," a sharp voice cut in from behind Tenten, causing the basketball star to turn on her heel and come face to half-covered face of another blonde with blue eyes. These were far more subdued than Naruto's dazzling blue, and hidden by a long bang over half her face, but still expressive in their own right. "Lay off on her okay? She's just wanting to 'talk' to Naruto. Can you tell her where he is?"

Sakura frowned at the interruption, a blush dusting her cheeks as she snapped the notebook shut and stuffed it back into her pack. "No, Ino, I do not. He's your clubmate, do you know?"

"You would think with him having that crush on you a couple years ago, you'd know forehead," Ino teased back, stepping around Tenten to get into the pink-haired girl's face. "I suppose that just goes to show that you don't know everything…"

"Who can know everything about that brat?! Who would want to know everything about him? He's just some scholarship student that wastes everyone time with his pranks!"

"That he uses to help those that he sees as being bullied," Ino defended, catching Tenten's attention. She hadn't known that about his pranks.

"Well they are still stupid and immature. Who even thinks they are funny?"

"I do," Tenten cut in, her voice calm and steady, though her voice was taut with unease from the fighting. This caused the two girls to back away nervously slightly. Clearing her throat, she gave them a warm smile before speaking again. "Thank you for your help, both of you. But I think I'll keep looking for him. If you see him, could you just let him know Tenten is looking for him? My email is in the directory."

She wasn't sure about the look the two shared, nor the strange smile that slowly spread over their faces, but she wasn't about to ask about it, as she'd gotten an affirmative answer from them. "Thank you… now you mentioned a greenhouse… Where is that?"

"Oh, that's off the South Hall, but he's not there. I just came from there," Ino explained while holding up some flowers in a decorative basket. "I think he might be working on Gai's homework for the week. Maybe you could check the class gyms?"

Tenten sighed, that was on the other end of the campus, and she wasn't supposed to be in them for the rest of the day. But if she wasn't working out, that should be fine, right? "Thank you, that's good advice."

"Good luck with him," Sakura stated encouragingly as she shifted her pack on her shoulders. "He's a bit dense, but I think you will have a good shot of getting through to him."

"Uh… thanks?" Tenten offered before turning to walk away, lifting a hand in a parting wave before going on her hunt for Naruto. That was weird. There was really no other word that came to mind beyond that. If Naruto was in the gyms, she could catch him when he stopped for a break and talk with him or something. That was a good plan, right?

She didn't notice the devious little smirks on the faces of the two she had just left behind, or when they shared a nod and slipped away into points unknown. She had her own things to focus on, and they were just distractions.

Her trip across the campus detoured through the student cafeteria so she could grab a muffin to eat. She really should have stopped for a full breakfast, but didn't have time. When she was hungry, she got distracted. And when she was distracted without something taking her entire focus, she began talking to herself. "Alright, so if Naruto's not in the student gyms, maybe someone there had seen him recently?" she mumbled while waiting in line for her turn to grab one of the blueberry muffins. Her focus lifted off the baked goods to stare out the rain-slicked windows while her mouth kept running on autopilot. "Yes, that should work."

"You could also ask here before going across the school, since he just finished eating, right?"

"Yes, that makes sense, and Ino did say he would have just finished here," she agreed while tapping her foot impatiently. "But talking to people is hard, and if they're like those last two, they'll just be weird or assume the wrong things about him."

"Talking to people is easier if you have a mission in mind."

It was about this time that she realized that her voice had gotten a few octaves lower than it should be, and looking down, she found out that she wasn't quite as alone with her thoughts as she thought she was. "Oh, sorry, I was just…"

"Distracted? Go ahead and get something to eat, then sit with me. I was eating with Naruto a little bit ago," the shades wearing boy instructed as he indicated the empty seat opposite of him. "I will wait for you."

She was about to protest the delay when her stomach reminded her that she did in fact require food. Blushing at what she was sure sounded like a freight train rumbling through her midsection she nodded an agreement and moved along the line to get her breakfast. She'd just add an orange juice to that muffin, right?

It seemed that the lunch ladies had other ideas about her nutritional needs, as by the time she got to the line, they had a plate piled with scrambled eggs, toast, a muffin, and a fairly large glass of orange juice, a carton of skim milk, and a note from her coach instructing her to eat everything.

Maybe she should find another sport?

Bitter thoughts about overbearing authority figures aside, the meal was carried over to the table the boy had reserved for what appeared to be a day of reading while the rain drummed against the window beside him. Sitting down, she gave him a friendly smile, met with a deadpanned neutral nod as she asked, "Shino Aburame, right? You… uh… you mentioned that you were talking to Naruto earlier?"

"That's correct, and I did, because I had talked with him. He had an interest in using my insects to aid in his horticultural endeavors," Shino explained while staring directly at her through with his impassive face. It was a little unnerving with the complete blackout those shades provided for his eyes. "He left just over ten minutes ago, and I believe where he is now, he will remain for a fair amount of time."

"Oh that's useful, thank you," Tenten offered as she adjusted her stuff so she could eat properly. "I didn't know you two were friends."

Shino was silent for a few seconds, during which she managed to shovel a couple bites of eggs into her mouth, before he continued. "I believe that I could say the same for you and he as well, though I would not claim overly that I am his friend, I do recognize that we have amicable bonds between us that might eventually become friendship, or other close fraternity."

"Right… umm… I'm trying to become his friend, since he seemed like a cool guy when we talked a few days ago," Tenten explained, feeling like there was something more that Shino wasn't telling her.

Shino pursed his lips as she ate a few more bites of eggs, chasing it down with juice. "I believe that you are being honest with your intentions as you know them at this time, but I believe I must warn you of something. Naruto has earned my trust and respect for multiple reasons that I will not divulge at this time, and by extension has been accepted by my family as well. I do not speak for the entirety of the family, but my parents and I have conversed about certain facts regarding Naruto, and accepted that he is a person we should assist if the need arises. That said, should something happen to cause him injurious insult, I believe it would be in our nature to take exception to that."

"Uhh… yeah? I guess so, but I'm not looking to date him, just hang out and chill. Like I said, he seemed kinda cool, so I thought he'd be a nice guy to be friends with," she reinforced, wondering why she felt threatened by that. Seriously, this guy was raising red flags all over the place, and she couldn't figure out why. Let alone try and figure him out.

Shino dipped his head in the barest form of a nod before turning to look out the window, though she could almost catch a hint of a smile on his lips. "That is good, he needs friends. I do not believe he has many that close to him at this time. Perhaps we both could be friends with him, and see where the relationships develop."

"Could we be friends too?" she asked, getting his full attention again. His head tipped to one side slightly as he seemed to be trying to understand what she was saying. "Look, you and I both want to be Naruto's friend, and to be fair, I kinda suck at being social. I think we might as well be friends too, right? That way Naruto gets two friends, and we can all hang out together sometimes. Simple and to the point, two birds with one stone."

No it seemed to be Shino's turn to be caught off-guard with her genuine offer and she felt a small surge of vindication at that. The small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth was perhaps the biggest anyone had seen in ages. "You are an interesting one as well Tenten, we will have to see if your offer holds weight in the future, but I believe we might be amenable compatriots given time. Finish your meal, I will tell you where Naruto went as you eat."

"Thanks," she offered while beginning to eat in earnest, which meant that most of what little table manners she normally had went out the window with a vengeance. She was a growing girl, and physically active due to her sports. She needed to keep up a caloric intake, even if she'd rather skip the heavier meal so early in the day.

"Now, as I said he had intended to be there for a while, so I do not know if he will be too distracted to converse with you much, but he mentioned needing some extra credit for gym class since he missed a couple classes due to skipping out of them. I believe he will be using Gym C as that one has the current lesson material for the self-defense courses present," Shino explained granting Tenten a bit of relief. Gym C was one of the closer ones, just off of Gym A, which was the primary one for the non-sports students. At least she didn't have the entire wing to check now. "I suppose some pointers from an athlete and upperclassman like yourself would not be amiss, and thinking on it, he should likely have a partner for spotting. I must apologize to him for the oversight I had. But he might be with others as well, so that might not be a factor."

"I'm sure he's fine, and would just be glad that you thought about his well-being," she offered between bites. She was almost to where she could eat the blueberry muffin. If she knew for a fact that the coach wouldn't find out about her skipping the proteins for a carb, she'd have started with that, but she knew better than to risk it. The last time she'd done that, the coach had her skip an entire day of practice. It was the most annoying thing, since she would pop up the second she attempted anything remotely practice like, and give her that glare. The one that told her that she wasn't angry, just disappointed.

It was like her fathers had given her a playbook on how to punish her effectively.

"Yes, he should be fine," Shino agreed as he picked up a glass she'd missed when she sat down earlier and took a long drink from it. "Thank you for your insight on the nature of our relationships with Naruto, I hope that we might be able to discuss them more in the future, but I believe I must depart. I have a meeting with my club, and it would not do to be late."

"Have fun," she offered as she finally finished the rest of her plate and lifted up her prized blueberry muffin. Sure it wasn't a sesame dumpling that her father used to make, but it was a nice little treat to remind her of her dad and his morning routines instead. Maybe it was a nice secondary favorite food in that case?

Clearing away the rest of her meal, she decided to start on her way to the gym area. The muffin was fine for eating on the way, despite leaving a few crumbs on the grounds. She had her mission, and her goal. It was time to keep going towards it.

As she was dropping the wrapper for the muffin in a garbage can, she felt a tremor ripple through the floors, and immediately sought shelter in the nearest doorway, yanking another student in just as they appeared. Holding the student in place as the teeming horde swarmed through the hallway she prayed that they weren't heading where she thought they were. There were few things in this school as terrifying as this herd of fangirls, especially as she recognized the face on some of the shirts and signs.

Sasuke Uchiha. He was top student in his year, had a dark brooding air about him, and for some reason, he was seen as the school's idol. Being one of two surviving heirs to a major financial power might have something to do with it, but she often felt this was a bit overkill.

Not nearly as much as he thought it, but she didn't know that.

Finally after nearly a minute, the tidal wave of fans was past, and she could peek out of the doorway safely. There were a few stragglers, but for the most part the pack had passed, and it was safe to venture forth. "Hey, sorry about grabbing you like that," she offered as she turned to her companion and was met by a distinctly unemotional face. He looked out into the hall before turning back to her and giving him a deep bow.

"I thank you for your timely assistance," he explained while he straightened up again, adjusting the notebook in his arm. "I was distracted by my drawings and did not see the warning signs."

"Yeah… umm… hey, you're with the art club right? You sat in on one of our practices for motion drawings or something," Tenten asked as the name continued to elude her. Seriously, she should work on learning to remember names someday. This was getting embarrassing.

"I did. It was a good practice for my talents," he stated as he walked out of the room and turned to continue on his way. "Thank you again."

"You're welcome, hope I can see your art sometime," she offered, getting back to making it to the gyms. She didn't notice the look on the boy's face, before he turned away, his face an emotionless screen once more, careful as the trembling of the fangirls continued to fade. They were known to turn on a second's notice after all.

Getting to the hall leading towards Gym C, she saw the horde turning away from the entrance and surged down the side hallway she knew led only towards the swimming pool. The fact that they left with enough speed to create a pull on the air itself was impressive, and suddenly she felt a pang of regret for Sasuke.

Just as she made it to the doorway, she heard a resounding crack from inside the gym, causing her head to whip up and focus on Naruto with his fist sticking out of the back of a training dummy he appeared to be practicing punches with. To be honest, she tried to resist the laughter that erupted out of her, but that resistance only lasted about two seconds. Naruto looked over haplessly as his arm was currently stuck up to the elbow in wood and stuffing. "Impressive work Whiskers," she teased like she might one of her teammates, picking something to give him a nickname, "Need help getting out?"

"Err… could you get Gai?" he asked just as the two people rushed in from the other side of the room, emerging from the storage closet there. Sasuke Uchiha honestly seemed worried about the sound, which slid into a dumbfounded expression as he realized just what he was seeing before him.

"Hnn…" he grunted as he moved over to the dummy and looked to make sure Naruto wasn't bleeding or something, before patting him on the shoulder and indicating for Tenten to stick with him while he went for the teacher. The one that had come out with him was still staring in shock, a deep crimson blush burning across her cheeks.

"N-Naruto? Are you okay?" Hinata asked as she rushed over, pulling around her fanny pack full of medical supplies. Tenten smiled as she recognized the gift she'd given Hinata when she had been accepted as the manager of the basketball team having a practical use. Making her own way over, she watched as Hinata double-checked Sasuke's assessment and carefully pulled a few of the splinters away from his arm as best she could.

"I'm fine, just stuck," he offered, as Tenten got her own chance to look at the trapped arm up close. She knew that these things were old, but this was ridiculous, and with the stuffing falling out, she figured it would be hard to salvage this, especially with that, is that burn marks near his elbow? How strange, must be a trick of the light or something.

Sighing, she patted him on the shoulder. "At least you're not hurt, right? But now you get to explain to Gai why you aren't on his martial arts team," she teased lightly, getting a slight giggle from Hinata as the trapped boy let out a piteous little whine. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, but it looks like you don't have anywhere else to be for a while... "

"Tenten, perhaps we shouldn't tease him," Hinata pointed out softly as she poked her pointer fingers together a few steps away. "I mean, he probably feels bad about this, and…"

"Nah, don't worry about it Hinata, if she's teasing me, that means I'm probably going to live through it," Naruto offered with a laugh and his trademarked mischievous smirk.

Tenten sighed and slung her arm over Hinata's shoulder, giving her a friendly squeeze. "I'll stop, he's fine, and I think I made all the jokes I can. Besides Gai should be here soon, and we'll be the least of his worries at that point."

Naruto let out a laugh as he watched Hinata look between him and the older girl with an arm around her shoulders, and the door in rapid succession. "Come on Hinata, I'm fine, and I know they'll understand that this was an accident. Mostly, I'm kinda just glad I didn't try to do a kick… That would have really been putting my foot in it."

Tenten was about to groan as Hinata let out a soft giggle, she watched the younger girl out the side of her eyes as she covered the laugh with her hand, and blushed harder. Turning her focus back on Naruto she noticed that he was relaxing a bit more, which she felt might help him in getting his arm out of the dummy eventually. "So… what do you plan to do for an encore?"

"I'm not sure, maybe walk up the wall or something like that. What do you think Hinata?"

"J-just be sure to put down a mat first?" she offered, not sounding sure if that was acceptable in this situation, but relaxing a little when Naruto just seemed to laugh it off. "I… are you hurt Naruto?"

"Nothing bruised save my pride, and maybe my knuckles, I haven't seen them yet," Naruto offered while wiggling his fingers on the other side. "I could probably pull my arm out, but I don't want to break this thing more."

"AN EXCELLENT IDEA MY MOST YOUTHFUL STUDENT!" Gai's booming voice echoed throughout the room, causing the three students to cringe and turn to see their gym teacher with his trademark green jumpsuit. There were just so many things wrong with it, no body wanted to even begin. But if they did it might be that he wore a matching baggy green t-shirt and basketball shorts over the top of it.

"Hinata, would you mind going to tell the nurse to be expecting Naruto soon? I'll have him out of here in a few minutes. He should be fine, but you know how she worries!" he asked waving her towards the door with a chuckle. As she turned to comply, he turned to Tenten with his beaming nice guy smile, and a little twinkle in his eyes. "Tenten, how wonderful you and your youthful friend came to show your care for Naruto, and I hope you can help me. This is not the first time this happened, and I just need your help for a moment. Can you grab his shoulders and hold him steady?"

"Sure?" she offered, moving to brace Naruto from behind as Gai stepped around to where his hand was sticking out of the dummy. Squatting down, he peered at the edges of the hole with a thoughtful look before slipping his hands inside above and below the wrist, and pulling. With a strained grunt, his muscles clenched and he ripped the dummy nearly in half around the arm sized hole Naruto had made.

"There we go," Gai answered as he tossed the upper half of the dummy aside, and looked over the arm carefully. "A few minor scratches, I doubt you'll even need band aids, but best get to the nurse to check it over."

With a thunderous clap to both of their shoulders, they were set in motion heading for the doorway out, the same thought running through their heads. ' _Let's not ever make him mad.'_

"Now get going you two, and Naruto… I want to talk to you later about joining some sports. I believe you have some potential," the instructor informed him as he walked past the stumbling blond, a knowing look in his eyes. "I will find you later to discuss it."

And with that chilling reminder, he disappeared down the hall, turning the corner where his boisterous voice boomed out a greeting to his favorite student Rock Lee, a star athlete that trained just a smidge more than Tenten did. Turning to look at the blonde, she couldn't help but feel pity for his fate, but the face he was making seemed like it was a death sentence.

"Hey, let's just go have some fun, okay? I've been wanting to talk with you," she offered, trying to give him some cheer. "After the nurse, but it doesn't look like anything's wrong. So, you should be fine, right?"


End file.
